Sweet Comfort
by weirdgirl42
Summary: Well since everyone's doing it, a Mayhem post-ep. Takes place a few days later. Brennan wants to share something with Sweets.


_Disclaimer: Don't own nuttin'_

_Author's Note: So this comes mostly from the episode "Mayhem on the Cross" and also from the line in "Cinderella in the Cardboard" where Bones says that some kids have even taken to her. Also spoilers for "Boy in a Bush." But above all else this story is due to me yelling at the TV in "Mayhem" for someone to freaking hug Sweets!_

**Sweet Comfort**

Lance Sweets padded to the door that Saturday morning not sure what to expect. It was still fairly early and he wasn't anticipating any visitors. To tell the truth he was still pretty emotionally exhausted from the week before. Having Dr. Wyatt open up all the wounds he had thought were well scarred over hadn't been easy. But the exhaustion was the good kind, a healing kind. He rubbed sleep out of his eyes and decided answering the door in just his batman pajama pants was okay for that early in the morning. When he reached the entryway to his apartment and looked through the peephole he had to check twice to make sure his eyes weren't playing tricks on him.

"Dr. Brennan?" he said as he opened the door.

"I'm sorry I didn't call," Brennan said. "I made a last minute decision to come here and…" she trailed off.

"No, no it's fine," Sweets said,, gesturing for her to come in and scanning his living room for a shirt to put on. Finding a t-shirt laying on the couch he quickly pulled it over his head. "What can I do for you Dr. Brennan?"

Brennan shifted on her feet slightly and Sweets could tell she was somewhat uncomfortable with what she had come to ask. "I was wondering if you had any plans for today?" she said finally.

Sweets' eyebrows went up and he glanced around the room. "Ah, not really. Daisy's been in Cleveland visiting her parents so I was just going to catch up on paperwork. Why?"

"Well it has occurred to me over the last few days that you and I have some…similarities in our past history and using the kind of deduction I decided you would use it also occurred to me that something I find cathartic in dealing with my past may also serve such a purpose for you. So I was wondering if you would like to go somewhere with me."

Sweets regarded the doctor with a curious eye. This behavior seemed so unlike, and yet so like her. He felt a slight swelling in his chest at the evidence that she, and agent Booth to an extent, were beginning to think of him as more than the annoying shrink they were required to see. "Sure," he replied. "I'd like that. Let me go get dressed."

Brennan nodded, a small smile appearing on her face, and watched as he retreated into his bedroom. When he emerged a few minutes later dressed in jeans and a hooded Georgetown sweatshirt Brennan had to bite her lip to keep from grinning outright. In those clothes he could have easily passed for a college freshman on his way to a football game.

Sweets caught her expression and looked down at himself. "Am I too underdressed?" he asked. "You didn't say where we were going."

"No, not at all. Your clothes are perfectly appropriate."

"Okay." Sweets grabbed his wallet and keys and followed Brennan out the door.

The car ride was mostly silent except for the soft music coming from Brennan's satellite radio (a present, she confessed, from Booth on her last birthday.) Sweets didn't ask where they were going and Brennan offered no information. When the car finally stopped he saw that they had pulled up outside a very nice suburban house. To Sweets' surprise, a boy of about twelve was sitting on the front steps seemingly awaiting their arrival.

They stepped out of the car and Sweets' mouth almost fell open in shock when the boy came running down the walkway and hugged Brennan tightly. "Hey Tempe!" he said.

"Hey Shawn," replied Brennan. They pulled apart and turned to Sweets. "This is my friend Dr. Sweets. Is it okay if he comes with us today?"

Shawn shrugged. "Sure." Then his eyebrows crinkled and he looked up at her. "He's not your boyfriend is he?"

"No," Brennan replied. "He has a very nice girlfriend named Daisy."

"We work together," Sweets added.

"Okay," Shawn said. "Can we go?"

"I think you need a sweatshirt first," Brennan answered. "It will be cold by the river."

Shawn agreed and ran inside to get the proper clothing. As soon as the door was shut Sweets turned to Brennan. "I thought you just had nieces."

"Oh, Shawn isn't my nephew. I met him almost four years ago on a case. A neighbor used Shawn to lure his foster brother into a field and then killed the boy. Shawn and his older brother David had been in the foster system for years before Margaret Sanders took them in. After the case Booth and I arranged for Shawn and David to go back to Margaret instead of getting thrown back into the system."

Before Sweets could respond, Shawn reappeared holding and obviously well-worn Jeffersonian sweatshirt. As he slipped it over his head, Sweets caught a glimpse of the small round scars on the boy's arms. The picture was becoming more clear to him now.

"Let's go!" cried Shawn, running towards the car.

The three of them climbed into the car. "Which one first?" Brennan asked Shawn.

"Lincoln," he replied. "Then Jefferson, Vietnam, Korea, and Roosevelt last because it's the best."

"Okay," said Brennan.

"Dr. Sweets?" Shawn said as they drove back towards DC. "Do you catch criminals too?"

"Sometimes," Sweets replied. "And you can call me Lance."

"That's so cool! I'm gonna join the FBI when I grow up. And help Tempe catch criminals." Shawn paused and dug around in his pocket for a minute. "I almost forgot, David sent this for you Tempe." He held out a small object and Sweets took it since Brennan was driving. It was a key chain from Boston University.

"That's where my brother goes," Shawn explained. "He's gonna be a teacher."

"I see," said Sweets.

"David just turned eighteen," Brennan elaborated. "Before he left for school he used to come with us on Saturdays too."

"So you guys get together every Saturday?" Sweets asked the pair.

"No sometimes I have baseball," Shawn answered. "And sometimes Tempe has to work on a case."

"But usually once or twice a month," Brennan said.

"One time we went to a waterpark. And another time we went to a carnival and Tempe and I went on the huge roller coaster even though David was too scared."

The rest of the car ride passed in a similar fashion, with Shawn asking Brennan about the lab and telling her about his schoolwork. Including the science project he'd made discussing the use of bugs to create a timeline for decomposition of vegetables that he'd won first prize for. They found parking near the national mall and made their way towards the Lincoln Memorial. Once they had climbed the stairs Shawn took off to go read the various plaques and etching depicting Lincoln's achievements.

"I have to say," Sweets began once Shawn was out of earshot, "that this routine you seem to have established with these children is surprising and admirable."

Brennan smiled slightly. "You know during the case I told Booth I knew what to say to Shawn to get him to tell us the truth. It was the first time as an adult that I had used my personal past to connect with someone. I think it was the first time Booth ever saw me as…human is, I think, the expression."

"Well Shawn obviously adores you," Sweets observed.

"Foster kids, all they want is to hear the truth. Adults just try to placate them."

Sweets nodded. Although he had precious few memories of his early days with his adoptive parents, he did remember them being the first people to be honest with him.

"I've never lied to Shawn or David," Brennan continued. "They had some really bad experiences in the system and they told me about them because they knew they could ask me about mine as well. In fact they know more about what happened to me in foster care than anyone."

"Even Agent Booth?" he asked, though from the man's reaction the other night to the car trunk story, Sweets was fairly certain of the answer.

Brennan gave a small sigh. "Booth takes it personally. It's like he feels it as though it happened to him. It's irrational because…because there's no way he could have prevented it. He always wants to protect people around him and it hurts him when he can't."

"So you haven't told him everything because you don't want to burden him with it?"

Brennan nodded. "It just hurts him too much."

Sweets understood. He also knew that if he were to ask Booth why he hadn't shared more about his past with Brennan, he would likely give a similar answer. "You know Dr. Brennan if you ever want to talk about it, I'd listen. Even just as a friend, not a shrink."

"Thanks Sweets," Brennan said. She opened her mouth to say more but was interrupted by Shawn running over to say he wanted to go see Jefferson now.

The rest of the day progressed much the same way. Shawn asked question after question and Sweets and Brennan did their best to answer. After the Jefferson Memorial they stopped at a hotdog vendor and got some lunch, Brennan ate a pretzel while the boys had chili dogs, before heading on to the Vietnam War Memorial. Once they had finished the Roosevelt Memorial they headed back to the car to take Shawn home.

"Thanks Tempe! Thanks Lance!" he called as he ran up the walk to the front door. The adults waved after him and waited until he had gotten inside before taking off back towards Sweet's apartment.

"Thank you," Sweets said as the pulled onto the freeway. "You were right, this was a very cathartic experience."

"You're welcome." They sat in silence for a while longer. "I am meeting Booth for dinner at the diner in a little while," Brennan told him. "If you'd like, you're welcome to come."

"I'd like that. If you're sure Agent Booth won't mind."

"Despite his often annoyed attitude towards you," Brennan said, "he is really quite fond of you."

Sweets had to try very hard not to grin with delight.

"Don't tell him I told you though."

"Of course not. Nor will I disclose our day's activities."

She smiled at him in appreciation. "And I know I'm not the best person as far as empathy and compassion but, what you said earlier today about listening as a friend, I'd like you to know that the same goes for you. With me I mean."

Sweets chuckled. "I think you're better at empathy and compassion than you think you are."

They couldn't find parking near the diner and had to settle for a lot about four blocks away. When they began walking towards the restaurant Sweets turned to Brennan. "They foster parents I lived with before I was adopted used to beat me with a belt." It was blurted out, not unlike Brennan's revelation a few days earlier. "I was too young at the time to really remember anymore. But I do remember the pain. And the worst part is, I can't remember why they did it. What I had done that set them off." He could feel his throat tightening the way it had outside the interrogation room with Dr. Wyatt. "My parents spent years trying to convince me that nothing I could of done made it okay so it didn't matter what I'd done. But I still wish I could remember."

Sweets felt a tear break free and run down his cheek and he hastily wiped it away. Staring at the sidewalk he realized they had stopped walking. He was about to apologize when he felt arms wrap around him. Shock gave way to relief as he brought his own arms up and held onto the seemingly cold-hearted doctor. A few more tears got loose and he felt the tell-tale wetness on his own neck as well.

No more words were spoken, they weren't really necessary. Neither one could say anything to make the other feel less hurt and ashamed of what was done to them as children. But the simple act of holding onto each other, even for that brief time, served as a kind of pressure valve, letting some of the residual pain go.

When they finally broke apart they took a moment to pull themselves together before continuing on to the diner as though nothing had happened. But something had happened. And something had changed between the two doctors. There was a connection that only people who had been in the foster system could ever have. And even though both would also try to be there for Booth in the coming weeks and months, they knew that their experience had been profoundly different from his.

As they walked into the diner and made their way to the table Booth was sitting at, they glanced at each other one last time, a look of understanding passing between them.

"Hey Bones," said Booth. "What's Sweet's doing here?"

"Daisy's out of town so I invited him to join us since I knew he'd be alone," Brennan replied. It was close enough to the truth.

"Fair enough," said Booth. "I'm starving, let's eat."

It wasn't everything, it wasn't even close. But it was a start.

**The End**

_please review if you have a minute. :D_


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